Jubilee medal recipient 'ecstatic' his shirt was clean

05/22/2012 01:17 EDT
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Updated
07/22/2012 05:12 EDT

CBC

The Jubilee Medal ceremony held Tuesday at Queen's Park was just one of hundreds of similar ceremonies that will be held across the country to honour Canadians who have contributed to their communities.

In total, 60,000 Canadians will receive the medal, though most of them will not be receiving theirs from Prince Charles

Rahul Singh, who founded the charity Global Medic, was one the recipients chosen to receive the medal from the Prince of Wales during Tuesday's ceremony in Toronto.

Afterwards Singh said he was overjoyed but not for the reason most might think.

"Well I gotta be honest with you," he said in an interview on CBC News Network, "I was ecstatic that I didn't have a mustard stain on my shirt."

Singh, whose organization travels to the scene of natural disasters all over the world, said the prince was "gracious" and "very complimentary about the work we do."

"I'll be honest, I was working him, I was trying to get him to come down to Haiti with me and get some kids some clean water, you know, kind of reignite that cause and get at people's hearts again."

Singh said he was honoured to be chosen to receive the medal.

"The medal's important ... the medal represents community service and community work — and that's incredible. That just speaks volumes about the royal family and what they believe in and what prince Charles stands for — and it's important work. "

Singh also said the morning ceremony will give him much more than just the usual bragging rights with his friends.

"Here's the best part, when he becomes king I get to turn around to all my friends at the pub and say, 'I knew him when he was the prince.'"